Matthias RICHARDS

(1758-1830)

RICHARDS, Matthias,
(brother of John Richards), a Representative from Pennsylvania;
born near Pottstown, New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pa.,
on February 26, 1758; completed preparatory studies under private
tutoring; served during the Revolutionary War as a private in Col.
Daniel Udree’s second battalion, Berks County Militia, from
August 5, 1777, until January 5, 1778; major of the Fourth
Battalion, Philadelphia County Militia, in 1780; appointed justice
of the peace in 1788 and held this office for forty years; judge of
Berks County Courts in Pennsylvania 1791-1797; inspector of customs
in 1801 and 1802; elected as a Republican to the Tenth and Eleventh
Congresses (March 4, 1807-March 3, 1811); was not a candidate for
renomination in 1810; appointed collector of revenue for the ninth
district of Pennsylvania in 1813; clerk of the orphans’ court
for Berks County in 1823; was appointed associate judge of Berks
County Courts by Governor Shulze; engaged in mercantile pursuits in
Reading, Pa., until his death in that city on August 4, 1830;
interment in the Charles Evans Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present